coliving, a new trend attracting investors

Before, it was Galeries Lafayette. For a year, this six-storey building with basement, roof, terrace, patio has been the largest “coliving” in France. 160 “colivers”, as they are called, occupy either a bedroom in a four-room apartment with a shared kitchen, or a fully equipped studio or two-room apartment for rents of 650 to 1,300 euros. It’s a little more expensive than the market price, but the colivers also earn a little more than square meters.

Benoit Jobert is the boss of this new kind of phalanstery, called The Babel Community, in the city center of Marseille. “I have my key which allows me to automatically open my apartment, to access my gym, the restaurant. I am also invited to a WhatsApp group in which I can communicate with other colivershe illustrates. Every Friday of each month, we invite all our colivers to chat with the other people in the residence.”

In addition to services and leisure, there is also a concierge and a cinema room. Les colivers can rent offices by the hour, day or week in the same building. This is exactly what Anne-Sophie, who works as a recruiter for a large French company, was looking for. She was also able to multiply her professional and friendly contacts: “When you arrive alone and you don’t know anyone, you make friends very quickly.”

“We live in community, we have a lot of events to meet. I arrived two weeks ago and I already know more than twenty people!”

Anne-Sophie, coliveuse

at franceinfo

The colivers are mostly young single adults who live here for a few months, for the duration of a mission or before settling down permanently. Demand is on the rise and major investors are interested in this market. Vincent Simonin, Deputy Director of BNP Paribas Immobiliers for the Great South, recently visited the Babel Community. “We want to develop this concept of coliving more and moreexplains the specialist. There is an increasing demand. Whether young students or retirees, the clientele is quite large.”

Other CAC 40 giants are also interested in co-living. The Vinci group even has two projects comparable to that of Marseille under construction, in Lyon and Montpellier.